A novel approach based on supramolecular solvent microextraction and UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS for simultaneous analysis of perfluorinated compounds and fluorine-containing pesticides in drinking and environmental water

Abstract

A rapid, inexpensive and environmental-friendly preconcentration method, supramolecular solvent (SUPRAS) microextraction, followed by ultrahigh performance liquid chromatography quadrupole Orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS), was developed for simultaneous analysis of 4 perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) and 5 fluorine-containing pesticides (FCPs) in drinking and environmental water samples. The parameters in the microextraction process such as amount of undecanol, volume of tetrahydrofuran, pH of the sample, salt concentration and enrichment factor (EF) were investigated and optimized. The optimal conditions were 200 μL undecanol, 1.0 mL tetrahydrofuran and 10.0% salt addition. Under the optimal conditions, the recoveries for all targets were 81.3–105.9% with EFs of 23.5–28.2 and the relative standard deviations (RSD) of 2.1–6.9%. The calibration curves were linear from 1.0 to 500.0 μg/L with R2 higher than 0.998. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) and limits of quantification (S/N = 10) for PFCs and FCPs were 0.125–0.250 μg/L and 0.42–0.84 μg/L, respectively. The method was applied successfully for the analysis of PFCs and FCPs in water samples, perfluoroundecanoic acid (PFUdA) and perfluorotridecanoic acid (PFTrDA) were detected in 2 samples with concentrations of 0.14 and 0.15 μg/L, respectively.